McConnell, unlike some of his GOP colleagues, embraces Biden’s decision to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court

• Mitch McConnell embraced Biden’s decision to name a Black woman to the Supreme Court.
• “I did not think that was inappropriate,” the GOP leader said Tuesday.
• Other Republican senators, including Ted Cruz, have criticized Biden’s decision.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday rejected criticism of President Joe Biden’s decision to nominate the first Black woman to the Supreme Court.

“I heard a couple of people say they thought it was inappropriate for the president to announce he was going to put an African American woman on the court. Honestly, I did not think that was inappropriate,” the Kentucky Republican said during an event in his home state, Politico reported.

McConnell referenced similar pledges from former presidents Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump to pick women for the Supreme Court. Reagan campaigned to put the first ever woman on the high court and fulfilled that promise by nominating Sandra Day O’Connor in 1981. Trump vowed to nominate a woman to the court after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020 and did so by picking Amy Coney Barrett.

“I’m not complaining about that,” McConnell said, per The Hill.

McConnell’s position puts him at odds with some of his Republican colleagues that have criticized the president’s decision. Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi said Biden’s eventual nominee would be a “beneficiary” of affirmative action. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called Biden’s decision “offensive” and “an insult to Black women.”  

Other Republicans besides McConnell have embraced Biden’s history-making announcement. Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina applauded the move.”Put me in the camp of making sure the court and other institutions look like America,” he said. 

Biden announced last month that he will name a Black woman to replace the retiring Justice Stephen Breyer, who plans to step down from the high court this summer. The president not yet announced his nominee and will do so by the end of the month, according to the White House.

Whoever the nominee is, McConnell said she can expect Republicans to engage in “the kind of process I think you can be proud of,” per Politico.

“I think one thing I can promise you, for sure, if you remember the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation, that this confirmation will not occur like that. I think we believe the Supreme Court nominee ought to be respectfully treated, thoroughly vetted and then voted upon,” McConnell said, according to the Hill.